Ahmed Mater is an established artist widely recognised as one of the most important voices of contemporary Saudi Arabia. As a former physician, Mater’s earlier works are heavily informed by his formal training and traces of that experience can be observed in many of his earlier works, in the form of incorporating X-ray imagery in his Illuminations pieces. His life and work have each been shaped and punctuated by events of unprecedented social reform, pivotal experiences which inform his work. Working across photography, film, sculpture and performance he documents and analyzes these rapid developments through his research-based practice.
Of particular interest to Mater are the forgotten narratives and unofficial histories of Saudi Arabia’s past, present and future. These are consistent subject matters in his practice, which often engages the forces of propulsion and attraction to articulate the artist’s perspective onto societal conditions. Forging an ongoing, complex mapping of the Kingdom. A hallmark of Mater’s artworks is that they are simultaneously politically engaged and expressively ambitious. These twin aspirations coalesce in refined, idiosyncratic forms.
Recent and notable exhibitions include Biennale d'Architecture d'Orléans: Years of Solitude, Frac Centre-Val de Loire, Orléans, France, 2019; Stand in The Pathway and See, Galleria Continua – Les Moulins, Paris, France 2019 (solo); Ahmed Mater: Mecca Journeys, Brooklyn, 2019; Longing for Mecca, Tropen Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2019; and Drumroll, please, King Abdullah Economic City, KSA, 2018 (solo).
Ahmed Mater’s artwork is widely collected and can be found in the following selected collections, A-Political, London, UK; The British Museum, London, UK; Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Nadour Collection, Dusseldorf, Germany; and Zayed National Museum, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
His publications include the forthcoming Prognosis/Saudi Arabia; a major monograph on Mater’s work to date, published by Booth-Clibborn Editions.
Desert of Pharan Unofficial Histories Behind the Mass Expansion of Me, Lars Müller Publishers, 2016.